Great Parks of Hamilton County is nearly ready to move forward on construction of the final phase of the Columbia Connector. The 1.6-mile, shared-use trail will connect the Little Miami Scenic Trail with Cincinnati Riding Or Walking Network, known as the CROWN.
"It's a very important piece of [trail]," explains Great Parks CEO Todd Palmeter. "It's actually a piece of the Wasson Way. If you look at the CROWN network, Wasson Way is the far northern section, which will connect Mill Creek Corridor all the way to the Little Miami Scene Trail. This piece, this very short but expensive piece, is the last critical connection for Great Parks to connect going east to west."
The Great Parks board gave final approvals Wednesday. The project is expected to go for bid in May. That's when the full cost of the project will be known.
The bulk of the funds are coming from federal grants. Great Parks has secured more than $3 million in construction funding, including nearly $2.8 million in federal funding, along with $367,564 from Clean Ohio Trails Fund, $100,000 from the State of Ohio Capital Improvements Fund, and $300,000 from CROWN. There are also some additional local monies.
Construction on Phase 3 is slated to begin in the fall and be complete by Spring 2028. The work includes building a bridge over Walton Creek, installing retaining walls and other environmental controls, paving and gutter work, building concrete steps, and more.
Unlike some projects where bridge building is the biggest challenge, Palmeter says retaining walls are the story here.
"I'd say the most expensive part is where we zigzag through the Kroger Fueling Center and then we parallel Wooster Pike. There'll be a series of retaining walls because the trail is wider than the sidewalk, so we want to maintain sidewalk traffic and trail traffic, so we're going to have to build a pretty sizable retaining wall. That part won't be cheap, but the property owners are on board with it," he explains.
Securing the property easements to make the trail happen has also been a long process.
The path will extend from where the trail currently ends behind Fifty West at Walton Creek. A bridge will be constructed across the creek, then the trail will run behind the Kroger and Wooster at Walton Creek shopping centers before turning between the existing McDonald's and Kroger Fueling Center locations. From there it will run alongside U.S. 50/Wooster Pike up to approximately the Mariemont branch library.
Mariemont is simultaneously working on its section of the trail which will continue from the library, carrying the trail through the village, completing the circuit.
Palmeter says individual trails are great, but trails like this one help connect the region and offer more commuting options.
"Part of trails are about recreation, but they're really multimodal transportation. People will use these to go to school, to go to work, to go to their local grocery store, to go to their local restaurant. They'll commute to their job 5, 10, 20, further miles. They'll commute to green space — a lot of Great Parks, a lot of city parks, a lot of really important green spaces; the river corridors are important. These trails connect all those things and allow the public to access them without the use of a car," he says.
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